A volunteer at a Holbeach charity who has a brain tumour that effects her balance, is living up to her name by setting off on a 70 mile fundraising walk.
Next month Liz Walker, 69, is to trek from Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, where she was treated for acoustic neuroma, to her Holbeach home via King’s Lynn.
She’s going to split the funds raised 50/50 between the British Acoustic Neuroma Association and Holbeach Community Larder.
That’s where Liz volunteers, despite suffering from balance issues as a result of the tumour.
She said that it’s currently thought to have stopped growing following radiation treatment at the Cambridge hostpial.
“My acoustic neuroma was diagnosed in 2019 and it was very scary, but I was lucky in that they found it early,” said Liz (picture above). “I saw an ENT specialist because I was having hearing issues and she sent me straight for an MRI scan.
“A significant proportion of this type of tumour just stops growing of their own accord (nobody knows why) so I was initially on “Watch and Wait” with regular MRI scans to check on it, even during the lockdowns.
“Only when it became clear that it was continuing to grow did I receive treatment. Addenbrooke’s was able to treat it with radiotherapy rather than my needing surgery and scans since then have indicated that it has stopped growing and may even have started to shrink.
“It has left me almost completely deaf in one ear and with occasional balance issues. I will continue to have regular MRI scans, probably for the rest of my life, to check it doesn’t start to grow again.
“The British Acoustic Neuroma Association (BANA) has given me great support both before and since the treatment.”
Liz is currently in training ahead of setting off on the journey on Friday, September 25 which she expects will take ‘nine or 10 days’.
“I am hoping it will be much cooler by then,” she said. ” At the moment I am doing about five miles each day, walking first thing in the morning but even then it has been warm work and our flat agricultural landscape offers very little in the way of shade.”
You can donate to Liz’s good causes on https://givewheel.com/fundraising/19355/walking-home-from-addenbrookes/
